The leader of the team was Wang Dong, the patrol officer who had just dealt with the case of Zhou Gongzi's beating. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info just now he received news from the Zhou family, saying that the person who beat Zhou Gongzi before was in Zuihualou, so he immediately brought more than 100 people over, and it was expected that it would be difficult for the two of them to fly this time. I didn't expect that as soon as I entered the Zuihualou, I heard that another son was beaten, and it was the son of my immediate boss, Tianjin Dao Chen's family, this is still it?

These two things who don't know life and death dare to commit two cases in a row on Lao Tzu's territory, see if Lao Tzu doesn't beat them half to death first!

Wang Dong rushed into the Hundred Flowers Hall with more than 100 of his subordinates like wolves, and when he saw Chen Tianbao being pressed to the ground and beaten violently, he immediately yelled, "Take it down for me, if you resist, you will be killed!"

Seeing that the matter was getting bigger, everyone in the hall ran away from the other door.

At this time, six or seven sturdy men quickly rushed in from outside the hall, and they gathered around Chongzhen, these people were Meng Wei, Lao Dao, Hua Shen and the four masters of the interior. Originally, Chongzhen and Qin Shuhuai had no choice but to pretend that they didn't see it, but after seeing so many officers and soldiers entering, they couldn't calm down, so they rushed in.

Wang Dong was eager to make meritorious contributions, and without saying a word, he commanded his subordinates to kill him, and the two sides fought in the small hall.

Although there are more than 100 of these officers and soldiers, they are simply not enough to see in front of so many masters, let alone want to take down Chongzhen and Qin Shuhuai, even if they want to meet them, it is impossible.

At this moment, I heard a burst of crazy laughter outside, "Master Qin, Lao Zhao is here to help you fight!"

As soon as the words fell, I saw a fat man rushing in from outside the door. The fat man had two kitchen knives pinned to his waist, rushed to Wang Dong like a gust of wind, and with a few strokes of his arm, he knocked away the seven or eight guards around Wang Dong, and then unhurriedly pulled out the big kitchen knife and put it on Wang Dong's neck.

Wang Dong suddenly trembled, and without waiting for the fat man to speak, he consciously said to his subordinates, "Stop!"

The two sides immediately stopped fighting, and by this time nearly half of the officers and soldiers had fallen on their side, all of them humming in pain on the ground. And Qin Shuhuai didn't even have a single minor injury on his side.

Qin Shuhuai saw that it was the crazy cook Zhao Quyou from before.

He smiled and said, "Thank you Zhao Ye for coming to the rescue." ”

Zhao Quyou smiled, "Gongzi Qin brought a good vote, and you can win if Lao Zhao doesn't make a move." But Lao Zhao, I haven't fought in a while, my hands are itchy, hehehe!"

These officers and soldiers were solved, but Miss Liu Yan was also gone, which made Chongzhen very annoyed.

The matter is so big, Zuihualou will definitely not be able to stay, otherwise some high-level officials will probably recognize Chongzhen, and then those Donglin Party members will not know how to arrange Chongzhen, and he may not be able to take off a "debaucherous" hat for the rest of his life.

Chongzhen was unwilling to return, so he had to give up, keeping that beautiful shadow in his heart, thinking that next time he would definitely find another opportunity to come out, and he would meet this Liu Yan girl.

Qin Shuhuai also looked at the empty boudoir with regret, and intuitively thought that there was a big story behind this willow smoke girl, but it was a pity that he didn't have the opportunity to see it today.

A few people quickly walked out of the drunken flower building, and then returned to the inn at night. It is safe in the inn, because even if there are officers and soldiers who track it down, Qin Shuhuai has the token of Jinyiwei, and he can just repel them.

Chongzhen sat on the windowsill, opened the window, and looked out of the window in the face of the biting cool breeze. He didn't say a word for a long time, and his face was as cold as frost.

Qin Shuhuai closed the window and said to Chongzhen, "It's cold, Brother Huang beware of the cold." ”

Chongzhen sighed heavily, "I'm not afraid of the wind and cold, but this Da Ming, I'm afraid that the wind and cold are already deep!"

Qin Shuhuai nodded, "Brother Huang Mingjian." ”

"At the end of last year, dozens of imperial historians, squires, and scholars in the court jointly played, saying that there was a great drought in the summer and early in the winter, and there was a vision in the sky. I got right, abolished the mining tax, and reduced or exempted more than 10 taxes, including the tea tax, but what was the result? Isn't the winter still early this year? Isn't the summer still dry?"

Qin Shuhuai wanted to tell Chongzhen that this time was the Xiaoice River period, and you just didn't collect a penny of taxes. However, the words were swallowed back in his mouth, and it was still a little difficult for Chongzhen to understand these common senses.

So he said, "Brother Huang, even if what those people say is true, you will not make the world smooth by doing this, and it will only cause more anger and resentment." ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"The taxes you cut are all commercial taxes, and it is precisely to reduce the burden on the richest businessmen. The agricultural tax of the Ming Dynasty, as the national capital, has not only not been reduced, but also has been cleverly set up below, which has been greatly increased. On the one hand, the people at the bottom cannot collect commercial taxes, and on the other hand, if they want to complete the task of collecting taxes from above, they can only spread them on the heads of the peasants. The peasants had no way to live, so they had no choice but to rebel, and this is the direct cause of today's turmoil and popular uprisings. ”

Chongzhen pondered for a while, and then asked, "Brother Qin, how do you think Da Ming should be taxed?"

Qin Shuhuai replied without hesitation, "Heavy commercial tax and light agricultural tax are the way to cultivate life and rest." ”

"How is the commercial tax levied?"

"At least double what it is now. In addition, the mining tax, tea tax, silk tax, and salt tax were doubled on this basis. ”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commercial tax was unusually light, generally between two per hundred and three per hundred, which was nothing compared with the 17% value-added tax at every turn in later generations.

Chongzhen thought about it again and said, "Mine, tea, silk, and salt are all related to the people's livelihood, if the imperial court raises taxes, won't the price rise, and the people are afraid that I will say that I have looted the people's fat and people's ointment." ”

Qin Shuhuai smiled faintly and said, "Brother Huang is too worried. Brother Huang, do you know what the salt tax is now?"

This Chongzhen is still very clear, and said, "One introduction of salt (about 116.5 catties) draws three dollars, and the annual income is about one million taels." ”

"Then does the emperor know what the current salt price is?"

"This ...... I really don't know. ”

Qin Shuhuai raised his voice and said, "300 wen a catty! That is to say, once the salt is brought into the hands of the salt merchants, it can be sold for 35 taels! The imperial court takes 3 yuan from the 35 taels, and it is not even a fraction of it, how can it affect the market price? It can be seen that it is not the salt tax that really raises the market price!"

Chongzhen was taken aback and said, "The price of salt is 300 wen a catty?" The courtiers kept saying that the salt merchants were overwhelmed and wanted me to reduce taxes, but now I have reduced it to three cents per citation, and they can sell it for thirty-five taels per citation, and they also said that the profit is not much, is it possible that the cost of making salt is so high?"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court didn't care about salt affairs, but only collected taxes, so Chongzhen didn't know the cost of making salt, so he asked this question.

Qin Shuhuai said, "The cost of salt production in the Song Dynasty was already less than 50 wen per citation, and in this dynasty, the process was improved, and the cost was even lower." The reason for the high price of salt, does Brother Huang still need me to talk about it?"

When Chongzhen heard Qin Shuhuai say this, he immediately understood, and said hatefully, "These corrupt officials and corrupt officials, I will one day find them out one by one and behead them for public display!"

Now you know why so many civil officials in the court are clamoring to reduce taxes for those rich businessmen, right? Because to reduce taxes for rich businessmen is to reduce taxes for themselves and to generate income for them! Otherwise, where would these Donglin Party members come from so many gentlemen?

Chongzhen slapped the table heavily and sneered, "Donglin Party? Well said, a group of friends who pride themselves on being Donglin gentlemen! I thought they were just a group of pedantic and incompetent scholars, but I didn't expect that they were very flexible behind their backs! I just wanted to prune this Donglin tree, but I didn't want them to be so corrupted! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears today, I wouldn't have known that this big tree had grown so big and rotted so deeply, if I didn't uproot it again, I am afraid that it would fall down and crush my Forbidden City in the coming day! ”

Qin Shuhuai stood aside, quietly listening to Chongzhen venting without saying a word.

"Brother Qin, I know that you don't deal with the Donglin Party. Just go and check, I'll back you up. No matter who it is, no matter how big an official is, as long as there is solid evidence, I will not spare it!"

Hearing this, Qin Shuhuai chuckled lightly and said, "Brother Huang, why don't you check this Tianjin Dao before you go back?"